Night Vision Toastmasters (NVTM)

Our theme for this week’s meeting:

Self-Help, Recovery, and Snake Oil

Does anyone remember “I’m Okay, You’re Okay”? Apparently, this best-selling
book of the 1970’s marked the birth of the Self-help movement. What followed
in its wake was an as-yet unending torrent of similar titles, many of which
made their authors gurus of their own social movements, and, it should be
said, millionaires many times over.

My choice of this topic is… topical, as the Self-help movement has
recently generated a critical reaction that includes titles such as Wendy
Kaminer’s I’m Dysfunctional, You’re Dysfunctional: The Recovery Movement and
Other Self-Help Fashions. According to Kaminer, the movement’s antecedents
were the 12-step recovery programs and, more generally, Protestant
Christianity.

I thought it might be entertaining (cathartic? confessional?) for us to
admit freely, without fear of judgment, that we have (and surely we have,
haven’t we?) purchased one or two of these volumes. You know the ones I mean
- Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, Addicted to Misery, Secrets About
Men Every Woman Should Know, Your Erroneous Zones, et cetera, ad nauseum.
What did they mean to you at the time? Were they helpful? Did any of them
(help you to) change your life in a significant way?

Think about it, sign up for a role
(http://nightvisiontm.org/asp/Members_entry.asp) and then send me your
introductions!

See you on Thursday!